Microsoft released a new windows 10 Insider Preview build to the Fast Ring earlier today that brings the build number to version 15031.

The company announced recently that the next feature update for Windows 10 has reached feature complete status with Windows 10 SDK 15021.

This means that the coming weeks will mostly see bug fix releases. While you may still see changes being revealed in the coming weeks, all of those are already implemented but have not been made visible to users prior to this.

Windows 10 Build 15031 is one of those bug fix releases for the most part. While it does introduce a couple of new features, and changes to others, it is definitely a minor release when it comes to new features.

Compact Overlay Window

The new compact overlay window feature is reserved for Universal Windows Platform apps. It allows developers to enable support for the compact mode in their apps, so that users can launch it when they want to make use of it.

The mode works similar to video overlay features, for instance the one in the Opera browser . Basically, what it allows you to do is to display an app in a small overlay window on the screen that stays in that location on top of other apps or programs that you open.

So, always on top functionality combined with a compact mode for that app.

Microsoft's own apps Skype and Movies & TV will support Compact Overlay window in the future.

This can be useful at times, for instance to keep Skype open all the time and in the foreground, or to watch a movie or show in a small window while doing something else.

Dynamic Lock

We reviewed the Dynamic Lock feature of the Windows 10 Creators Update previously already. The feature is now active in Windows 10 Build 15031

Dynamic Lock is a new option that allows you to pair a Bluetooth device with the Windows 10 machine. Once done, you may enable Dynamic Lock to lock the operating system automatically whenever you are not near the PC.

The system is relatively straightforward: If the Bluetooth device is in reach, the system stays unlocked. Once it cannot be detected for a 30 second period, it is locked.

You find the new option under Settings > Account > Sign-in Options.

Other changes

Microsoft improved full screen support for the operating system's Game Bar feature. Game Bar is an overlay that you can trigger with the shortcut Windows-G. It allows you to capture a screenshot or video of the application or game, and configure other gaming related features.

The new version supports 52 additional games in full screen mode, including Civilization VI, Dishonored 2, Path of Exile, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, and GTA V.

Quite a few of the issues of previous Insider Builds were fixed in this release. Tencent apps and games don't crash anymore, select games don't crash or show black screens anymore when you try to run them, and a bug that caused Cortana's background task to use a high amount of CPU.

The list of known issues in build 15031 is considerably shorter because of this, but you will notice that more than a dozen longstanding issues have not been fixed this. Among them Developer Tools issues in Edge, games minimizing and not recovering from that, or the issue where Windows Update is seemingly stuck at initializing.

You can check out the full list of fixes and known issues on the Microsoft Windows Experience blog .

Now You: The Windows 10 Creators Update is feature complete. Does it have features that you are looking forward to?

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Windows 10 Build 15031: dynamic lock, overlay window

Description

Microsoft released a new Windows 10 Insider Preview build to the Fast Ring earlier today that brings the build number to version 15031.